Last July 23-27 2012, the workshop on “Physical and Wearable Computing”, organized by SUPSI within the summer school in “Digital Fabrication and Interaction Design”, has took place involving about 20 participants. This workshop has proved to be a very good approach to introduce future makers to the concepts of digital fabrication, prototyping and design of interactive objects.

On the workshop’s homepage, several prototypes and artifacts manufactured during the workshop are presented. Among them, it’s worth to mention Poetry Zoo, a set of laser-cut and RFID-equipped animals that generate poetries, The Sound of a Line, where simple melodies can be performed by using a ball with conductive ink in combination with a special glove, and Superfluo Shoes, a pair of shoes that react based on movement.

The complete list of projects developed during the workshop can be found on its official home page, while a personal view of this experience by Zoe Romano, who has taught at the summer school together with Massimo Banzi, can be found here.

Last July 23-27 2012, the workshop on “Physical and Wearable Computing”, organized by SUPSI within the summer school in “Digital Fabrication and Interaction Design”, has took place involving about 20 participants. This workshop has proved to be a very good approach to introduce future makers to the concepts of digital fabrication, prototyping and design of interactive objects.

On the workshop’s homepage, several prototypes and artifacts manufactured during the workshop are presented. Among them, it’s worth to mention Poetry Zoo, a set of laser-cut and RFID-equipped animals that generate poetries, The Sound of a Line, where simple melodies can be performed by using a ball with conductive ink in combination with a special glove, and Superfluo Shoes, a pair of shoes that react based on movement.

The complete list of projects developed during the workshop can be found on its official home page, while a personal view of this experience by Zoe Romano, who has taught at the summer school together with Massimo Banzi, can be found here.

We are really thrilled to blog Massimo’s delightful talk of yesterday about Arduino and the open hardware movement: TED team chose it to be the first video to be traslated and released for everybody to see.

We are really thrilled to blog Massimo’s delightful talk of yesterday about Arduino and the open hardware movement: TED team chose it to be the first video to be traslated and released for everybody to see.

Tony Olsson shot this video the other day where you can see the back of my neck (David Cuartielles) while mounting one of the first Arduino boards ever made. The PCB showed up at our office at the bottom of a box together with one of the plastic mugs we used to deliver the kits to our students at K3 back in 2005.

Thermometers are superb at measuring temperature but lousy at describing it. A bulb of mercury tells me it’s 55 degrees–but what’s 55 degrees? When was the last time I walked into a room and said, “This place feels exactly 55 degrees.”

Syncing with Wi-Fi to online weather reports, you can touch this aluminum cube to actually feel the outside temperature rather than simply reading about it through numbers or whimsical sunshine icons. “I sought to develop a device that conveyed the forecast in a manner which left nothing to the imagination,” Godshaw tells us. “It provides a thorough and instantaneous understanding of what awaits the user outside.”

Technically, the 4-inch milled aluminum cube is stuffed with quite a bit of hardware, including an Arduino that controls a Peltier element and a heat sink, which work in tandem to pump heat appropriately. After the first weather sync, it’s just a few minutes before the device comes to temperature.

The temperature ranges from 0°F (-18°C) to 100°F (38°C) which is clearly a decent measure of the hot and cold.

Thermometers are superb at measuring temperature but lousy at describing it. A bulb of mercury tells me it’s 55 degrees–but what’s 55 degrees? When was the last time I walked into a room and said, “This place feels exactly 55 degrees.”

Syncing with Wi-Fi to online weather reports, you can touch this aluminum cube to actually feel the outside temperature rather than simply reading about it through numbers or whimsical sunshine icons. “I sought to develop a device that conveyed the forecast in a manner which left nothing to the imagination,” Godshaw tells us. “It provides a thorough and instantaneous understanding of what awaits the user outside.”

Technically, the 4-inch milled aluminum cube is stuffed with quite a bit of hardware, including an Arduino that controls a Peltier element and a heat sink, which work in tandem to pump heat appropriately. After the first weather sync, it’s just a few minutes before the device comes to temperature.

The temperature ranges from 0°F (-18°C) to 100°F (38°C) which is clearly a decent measure of the hot and cold.

Even if some of you (thanks for the wonderful picture, Bill) already realized it, we are officially announcing a big Christmas surprise for all Arduino users in North America: Radioshack sells Arduino in most of its 6000+ stores all around US!

This means that you’re going to find Arduino UNO, Arduino MEGA 2560 and Arduino ADK, together with four shields, in the main Radioshack stores in your homecity.

Arduino jumps into the retail market in its new *sexy* retail packaging developed by TODO.

We are asking you to celebrate this wonderful achievement by taking pictures of the Arduinos in the Radioshack nearby and twitt them with #Arduino@Radioshack hashtag.

Wonder if any of these new products (and retail packaging) will be sold on the Arduino Store? Stay tuned for next week Christmas’ Specials.